Victorville in 2009

Saturday

Jan 3, 2009 at 10:00 AMJan 5, 2009 at 6:21 AM

BROOKE EDWARDS Staff Writer

VICTORVILLE • A new animal shelter, a park and a fire station, plus added retail and the Dr Pepper bottling plant, are all slated for 2009, in spite of what'll be a challenging economic year for the city.

"We're going to have to take a close look at things," said Victorville Mayor Pro Tem Mike Rothschild. "Anywhere we might be able to pare back, we're going to have do that."

One project the city is committed to for 2009 is the opening of its first animal shelter. The city will be rehabilitating the old H&E building on Palmdale Road until it can build its own shelter from the ground up.

As much as $1 million is committed to the project, with construction scheduled to start in March and an opening planned by the end of the year.

Also to be welcomed are the city's newest park and fire station at Eucalyptus Street and Topaz Road.

Sunset Ridge Park is a 17-acre, $7 million project that will include three baseball diamonds, two sports fields, tennis courts and a recreation center. The 5,000-square-foot fire station will house five firefighters.

The city expects that both projects will be completed by March.

The largest commercial project planned for this year is at Desert Sky Plaza, across from the auto mall on Civic Drive and Seneca Road.

This year should see the opening of the city's first In-N-Out Burger, plus a Panda Express, Walgreens pharmacy, Wells Fargo bank and Hampton Inn hotel.

Construction is also scheduled to start this year on the Wal-Mart Supercenter at Dunia Plaza, near the Mall of Victor Valley.

For Old Town, the city plans to hire a consulting firm to draft a new specific plan this month or next, according to Victorville spokeswoman Yvonne Hester. She said the plan will focus on land use, particularly along Seventh and D streets.

Despite the financial climate, finding funds to complete a new access point to Interstate 15 is still a priority.

"The most important (project) for 2009, sitting right at the front end, is the funding for Nisqualli (Road interchange)," said Rothschild. "We're ready to go — the engineering is complete ... So that's my highest priority."

The city plans to spend $3.8 million this year to reconstruct and widen Nisqualli Road from Seventh Avenue to Balsam Road, plus $9 million to buy more property and advance design plans for the long-awaited Nisqualli/La Mesa roads overpass and interchange at I-15.

The city will spend $5 million to widen National Trails Highway from to two to four lanes between Air Expressway and I-15 this fall, plus construct sidewalks in older downtown neighborhoods, and medians and berms for flood control citywide.

Traffic relief was a primary focus of then-Mayor Terry Caldwell's 2008 State of the City address, along with the hundreds of jobs that would be added last year through development at Southern California Logistics Airport.

While 2008 did see the addition of FedEx and several smaller leasees, the 1-million-square-foot warehouse out front of SCLA still sits unleased.

The city plans to spend nearly $50 million for a wastewater treatment facility and related projects needed to open the Dr Pepper Snapple Group bottling plant at SCLA.

Rothschild said the city is negotiating with another production plant planned for the former Air Force base. He's hopeful that the deal will come through this year and add several hundred jobs, though he didn't give further details on the project.

This year's State of the City address will come a month later than last year's, so that city staff will have more time to prepare and so that it wouldn't conflict with holiday vacations, Hester said.

The 2009 State of the City by Mayor Rudy Cabriales is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. Feb. 4 in the Victorville Conference Center at the Hilton Garden Inn.

Brooke Edwards may be reached at 955-5358 or at BEdwards@VVDailyPress.com.